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Taiwan, Singapore to hold war games

In a move expected to anger China, Taiwan and Singapore have decided to hold military exercises for the first time in three decades, a report said on Monday.

21 Mar 2005 15:10 GMT

China expects to eventually reunify with Taiwan

The drill involving a Taiwan motorised infantry battalion and a Singapore brigade, being trained on the island, will be staged in the southern county of Hengchun from late March to early April, the Liberty Times said on its website, Libertytimes.com.tw.

Aside from artillery and tanks, Taiwan will mobilise SuperCobra attack helicopters and Singapore will deploy its Super Puma helicopters, the report said said.

Taiwan's defence ministry declined to comment on the sensitive report, while China demanded an explanation from Singapore.

"The Chinese side is firmly opposed to countries which have diplomatic relations with China carrying out any type of official or military contact with Taiwan," the foreign ministry in Beijing said in a statement.

"We have requested the relevant country to clarify the above report."

Singapore has been operating three training camps in Taiwan under a military cooperation programme known as "Operation Hsing Kuang" (Starlight).

Close links

Singapore recognizes Beijing, but maintains close links with Taiwan, which sent air force and naval officers to Singapore during the city-state's early years of independence in 1965.

The report said the United States and Japan would send military advisers to the exercise.

"We have requested the relevant country to clarify the above report."

Chinese foreign ministry statement

In a joint statement last month, Washington and Tokyo said easing tensions in the Taiwan Strait was part of their "common strategic objectives" and urged China, which has 700 missiles massed opposite the island, "to improve transparency of its military affairs."

The statement angered Beijing, which slammed the allies' move as "inappropriate."

Beijing has been increasingly wary of Washington and Tokyo's close strategic partnership, seeing it as a potential threat to its goal of eventually reunifying with Taiwan by force, if necessary.